Silence Is golden
by AndAct
Summary: Campers are being scattered over eight miles of mountian and not always in one peice. With only one lead, Mulder and Scully are running out of time....And Campers
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okkkkk, so this is my first shot at an X fic...not that id use that as an excuse or anything...im just sending that little tidbit out into the universe and letting it float around. Any whooo, I do not own the X files, just Eve. Thats right, i own someone, she's like my goldfish, only i cant kill her acidentily because she's fictional...ok, im rambling...Enjoy!

Evangeline, or Eve as she liked to be called, heaved in a lungful of air; she was hot, sweaty, and late. Ron would be pissed that she had missed morning chores, and she couldn't help but think that avoidance might just be her best option.

"Late again Blue Eyes?"

Eve rolled her eyes, struggling to exchange her runners for riding boots. "Don't start with me Evans."

Max Evans smiled, the charming boyish grin contrasting sharply to his over all rugged exterior. "Ron's not in today."

"You're kidding." Tired limbs paused mid-yank. Ron Horner, owner and operator of Adventures on Horseback, was never not in. Hell, the man even came four days after his knee surgery.

"Come on Blue Eyes, would I lie to you?"

Eve studied the glint in his eyes, allowing her own to travel quickly over his body. Tall and muscular, a head topped with a mop of unruly brown hair currently locked away under the black cowboy hat, and a stance that screamed come and get me…. "Hell yes."

Max chuckled, grabbing a pitchfork to continue his work. "Yeah well, as true as that may be, you're still late." He held up a hand, silencing her. "And yes, Ron really isn't here today."

Twisting her long brown hair into a loose ponytail, Eve ambled her way over to the duty roster. Color coded and completely illegible, this thing was what told her how many rides she was guiding during the day. "They've got me going up the Spray? I thought that trail was still closed."

Max paused, his eyes darkening as his lips tightened. "There haven't been any attacks in three days; the police think what ever was attacking people must have left the area."

"That's a load of shit Evens, and you know it! They don't even know what it was in the first place so how would they know that its safe? Eight campers don't just decide to leave bits and pieces of themselves scattered all over the side of the mountain." Eve slumped against the barn wall, running a hand through her hair and muttering a few choice phrases.

Max grabbed her, dragging her backwards and into the barn office. "Im with you ok? But we don't get to make that call."

Evangeline shook her head. "So what, I just take a bunch of tourists up there and hope nothing happens? Great. How lucky for me." Shooting Max a last glance, she paused. "If I get eaten, Im so haunting your ass."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So I still dont own the X files...I know, its sad isnt it? Anywho on with the show...

She really didn't want to be here. The sun was constant, unbroken by any clouds, and the air was thick and dry. The two guests behind her were silent, the only sound being the heaving of the horse's breath as they paced up the steep incline. Two guests really wasn't worth chancing The Spray. Not now, not so soon after the attacks.

Two weeks ago people had begun to feel uneasy. Hikers would swear on anything holy that they were being watched, that something less than friendly was lurking in the shelter of the dark woods. And then people began to disappear. One every few days, nothing major, and they would always re-appear; lost, dazed, a few cuts and scrapes, and all turned into a drooling, babbling vegetable.

And then seven days ago a group of 8 campers was massacred. It took the whole police force three days to find and remove the body parts scattered over 8 miles of the mountain. Yet somehow, three days of peace, and it was suddenly safe.

"Safe my ass." Eve muttered under her breath, yanking her black cowboy hat lower over her eyes. Before another thought could cross her mind, Sol came to a grinding halt, his sudden stop causing the two horses behind to plow into them. The gelding's head flung up, nostrils flaring pink and ears cocked forward.

"Ummm, excuse me…" Guest two stammered, obviously becoming nervous as the three horses became more and more agitated.

Eve ignored him, choosing instead to scan the forest around them. Something felt off, and judging by the beast's reaction, she wasn't the only one to feel it. "Easy Sol…" She muttered, stroking his dun neck.

"Hay!"

Twisting in her saddle, Eve jerked around. Oreo, guest one's horse, had begun to prance. The little mare had been sweating before, but now she was positively lathered. Her eyes rolled, and her forelock danced as she tossed her head. Her poor rider looked ready to faint. "Ok, I think this is as good at time as any to turn around people. If you're feeling uncomfortable you can get down and walk for a-"

A low growl erupted through the trees, the sound bouncing around them. A snapping branch to Sol's left was all the encouragement the gelding needed. Eve just had time to register the horse's muscles bunching beneath her before they were bolting off the trail and into the undergrowth. Sol was in a blind panic, the basic instinct of flight taking over; she could only cling to the saddle as screaming; horse and human, erupted behind her. The guests! Oh god, the-

Sol's left front caught on a branch, the horse stumbled, and then recovered, heaving himself up to stand shaking and dragging in gulping breaths, too tired to go on.

Eve sat slumped, less than half aware on his back, a mess of cuts and already forming bruises garnered from the mad dash and the trees biting branches. The forest had gone deathly silent, though the screams still reverberated inside her skull. She needed to….To go back….Get help….Get-

Sol, poor tired Sol, twitched beneath her; his eyes rolling, whites showing clearly. A low rumble seemed to shake the very earth they stood on. Sol tried to bolt once more, his jerky action succeeding only in tossing Eve from the saddle; the horse's wind was gone and he could do no more than take a few stumbling steps to the side, his head bowed, nose almost dragging on the ground. Eve scrambled back, barely feeling the twigs and rocks slicing into her palms as she slid into the bushes.

Black as night, seemingly sucking the light out of the air around it, it stalked towards the trembling horse. Sol's head jerked up once, and then drooped once more. Defeated. Saliva dripped from its mouth, huge body dwarfing the equine as it approached.

Eve bit back a scream as the thing tore into the smooth neck, Sol's screams coming out only as a gurgle, hooves kicking spastically and blood staining the golden hide. Curling into as tight a ball as possible Evangeline did the only thing possible. She prayed.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Well folks (Or who ever is still with me after a rather ramblin intro) I guess this would be chapter one. Yes, i know the little button thinggy clearly states chapter 3, but trust me, its wrong. On another note, I don't own X-files, and im not making any money. Well i am, but its from my job which has nothing to do with the x-files. Enjoy!

Scully glared at her partner from across the desk, slowly pealing the sunflower seed from her forehead. Mulder shrugged in apology, a half smile taking over his boyish face before turning back to his task. The pencil flew true, imbedding itself in the ceiling next to its other dozen or so predecessors.

"Perfection."

Scully sighed, shaking her head. "You're just bored."

"Oh and your not?" Mulder asked, sharpening his next projectile. "Come on Scully, it's been almost a week-"

"Four days."

"Since the last X file. You can't tell me you're not bored, Im bored."

Dana smirked, watching her partner test the pencil's sharpness under half lidded eyes. "I never would have guessed." She paused, fiddling with the folder in her hands, torn between torturing her partner a little longer or curing his boredom.

"Wonder what else I could make this stick into…"

Defiantly intervention time. "Here." Scully stated, flopping the folder down in front of him.

Mulder's eyebrows arched upwards as he slowly flipped open the file, eyes only leaving hers when in became apparent that one could not read and maintain a staring contest at the same time.

Scully couldn't help the triumphant grin that flashed across her features as she sunk into the plush seat opposite him. "Three horses half eaten and two people were found scattered over an eight mile radius. This is the latest in a string of occurrences over the past two weeks. Before this there were eight campers, also in the same condition, and 15 hikers left in a vegetative coma. All of the police reports are vague; no footprints, no forensic evidence, nothing Mulder. It's like whatever did this, disappeared without a trace."

Mulder flipped through the case photos, hands running over the papers as his eyes absorbed the details. "It says here that there were three horses, but only two victim blood types were found?"

Scully nodded. "There were three in the group. Two guests and a guide. The guide survived the attack, she was found by the search party when the group never came back to the stable. But Mulder-"

"Let me guess, the guide's a vegetable now?"

"No, not quite."

Fox sighed, wishing his partner would just get to the point.

"She can't speak. Mulder, her toung had been ripped out."


End file.
